While we were in Maryland awaiting the birth of our grandson I thought a strand of my hair had fallen across my face so I tried to brush it away. A bit later, I thought it was an insect. Soon after that I realized it was none of those things.
I'd just been talking to a friend of mine about floaters in her eyes. Art said he'd also had one for several years until it somehow moved away from his peripheral vision. Well, my floater didn't stay in one place. It moved as I looked right, left, up or down. It was absolutely annoying! I'd been curious about my friend's floaters and now suddenly I was not thrilled to find out exactly what it was!
When I returned to Hawaii, I went to my optometrist who did tests on my eyes and even managed to take a photo of the floater! Incredible. She was really surprised at how large my floater was. She also said the reason it was annoying is that it's so close to the center of my eye. Arrrghhh!
I looked it up and found information here at the Mayo Clinic website: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eye-floaters/symptoms-causes/syc-20372346
"Eye floaters are spots in your vision. They may look to you like black or gray specks, strings or cobwebs that drift about when you move your eyes and appear to dart away when you try to look at them directly.
Most eye floaters are caused by age-related changes that occur as the jelly-like substance (vitreous) inside your eyes becomes more liquid. Microscopic fibers within the vitreous tend to clump and can cast tiny shadows on your retina, which appear to you as floaters.
This is what my floater looks like.
Sigh...
She said surgery wouldn't work for me because it's too close to my retina.
Sigh...
Yes... it's another sign of aging.
What else could go wrong anyway? No, no! I didn't say that. I'm not curious. I don't want to know.
Oh... she also mentioned cataracts. Arrrghhh....
I had some bad eye floaters a while back and my doctor suggested I begin taking turmeric - I could either add it into my food as a spice, or take a tablet or capsule. I am not anti-natural remedies but I was a bit skeptical at first, not really understanding how taking that could do anything for eye floaters but within a month all my eye floaters were gone.
ReplyDeleteI have been taking it ever since and I do notice another side effect - I had begun to get some occasional pain in my the joints of my hands plus also my hip, that is mostly gone now. I read that it is a natural anti-inflammatory. The hand thing worried me quite a bit as my grandmother had bad arthritis.
I am a bit surprised that this natural remedy was not mentioned to you, it is my understanding that they have done studies on this. :)
Hi! I've taken tumeric for many years and hadn't been told about it helping floaters. May I ask how much tumeric do you take and how often? Thanks, Linda in Kansas
DeleteHey Linda, I take 3100mg of Turmeric daily. It is a very small tablet but I have also had it in capsule form before. I also tend to add it to cooking if I can, too. :)
DeleteAs to whether it helps, it would be very hard to tell if you are already taking it. Because I started taking it specifically for that purpose I was watching out and there were definitely less of them within a month. They are still there from time to time, I think there is no way to permanently get rid of them, but there are less. :)
DeleteI have all sorts of floaties, and yes, they move. I also have flashes, but not the retinal tearing type.
ReplyDeleteMe as well. I had one develop one morning at school, so made a quick trip to optometrist who found a small hole. He referred me to an eye specialist. Nothing could be done but they monitor it to see if it will get bigger. So one thing often does lead to another.
ReplyDeleteI have had floaters for a long time. When I am bored they can be fun to watch. You get used to then and don't notice them all the time. I think mine all clump together when I's sleeping because sometimes I open my eyes and see a huge spider on the wall. The first time it happened The "spider" was on Mike's shoulder and a screamed bloody murder. He was not so amused by the rude wake-up call.
ReplyDeleteThe indignities of aging!
I have had a few floaters following my cataract surgery. They are small and don't bother me, but I didn't have any before. I also take tumeric and have no idea if it helps or not. When I wake up in the morning they are often gone and then gradually appear during the day. :-)
ReplyDeleteaging is catching up on me too..I am having problem reading some prints. Is there any vitamin supplement to stop or get rid of the eye floater ?
ReplyDeleteNo idea. Sigh...
DeleteI've had my "long, bug with little antennas" floater in my left eye, maybe for 10 years. Cataract surgery didn't change it. (Cataract surgery, one eye at a time, is a breeze. Afterwards, I was surprised how well I could see leaves at the top of trees!) My floater is in the middle to the left, and swims around if I notice it. Only had flasher once. My doc said it's bits of blood breaking off from interior wall of eye. Sometimes they "dissolve." Mine hasn't, but it's gotten smaller. If a flasher comes around, call your eye doc that day. If a "dark, curtain" seems to be dropping, go to the ER quickly, as that's one sign of a detaching retina, and some procedure can be done by the on-call eye doc to push it back in place and hopefully stay.
ReplyDeleteI had cataract surgery relatively young, at 55, because those of us who were very near-sighted as youngsters, tend to get cataracts sooner. I haven't named my floater bug yet....good luck getting used to it. Didn't know you had so many floater friends, eh? Linda in Kansas
My doctor said it's a jelly like substance that I'm seeing. It would be great if it got smaller. Keeping fingers crossed. I call my floater a "fried egg." Sunnyside up. I was just amazed that she could take a photo of it.
DeleteI've been groaning a lot just like that lately. LOL Argggg indeed.
ReplyDeleteI've had floaters all my life. But, I've had bad vision all my life. Interesting, what goes on inside us.
ReplyDeletelol, you didn't know that your friends are all full of floaters....me too.
ReplyDeleteRefuse to think about it, but focus on the wonderful life you enjoy, dear friend!
ReplyDeleteI had eye flashes for more than two years, and floaters for more than ten years. When my flashes started around 2013, my eye floaters got worse, bigger, darker, and ugly.
ReplyDeleteI started stricter with my carbo, and a few months later my flashes and floaters are gone. That was 2015, could be coincidence, flashing and floaters have not visited me since. I like to think my better blood glucose helps my eyes.
My husband has dry eye, and his eyes are sensitive to light. Tears stream down from his right eye and it’s painful when he drives. The same coincidence happened. His fasting glucose was ~ 130. His number is lowed gradually to ~ 105(he jabs himself every morning) He stopped buying 6 bagels bag, and lost ten pounds. He still have problem with his right eye, but much less frequently and symptoms less severe.
Again I am fanatic. You did have many many trips away from home in 2017. Were you away from your very healthy lifestyle? What is your latest a1c? Even a1c does not tell a whole story. Since a1c is the average of 2-3 month. Very high and very low blood glucose could do more damages.
My eyes are often dry too and the doctor said to use Refresh. My A1c was 5.9 last September. I don’t know what it is now because I haven’t been as good as I should be. I don’t eat bagels at all now. My blood glucose is between 100-115. Usually somewhere in the middle. The doctor isn’t too worried about my glucose right now. My big problem is high triglycerides. Sigh... But yes, those trips do take a toll on my diet.
DeleteI have a small floater but it doesn't worry me. I consider it a part of being 82.
ReplyDeleteCool photo of your floater!
ReplyDeleteWhenever people have eye issues I whip out my eyebright solution and have them "wash" their eyes. Not sure if this would work for floaters but It wouldn't hurt (though it does sting at first) if you want to try.
ReplyDeleteGlad you didn't have surgery.
scary but many of us have had them from time to time.
ReplyDeleteCheck out your floater at night and see if it's colored. That's what happened to me and I went directly to emergency at 1:00 AM only to find out it was a floater.
ReplyDeleteColored? No kidding?
DeleteWell, this morning Art insisted there was a rainbow next to the moon. I couldn't see it. His cellphone was able to pick up the color but his regular camera could not. So weird.
I get what I call floaters once in a while, but they go away. Is your sticking around?
ReplyDeleteIt's been around now for several months. The optometrist said it's possible that it could move away some day so it's not directly in front of me, but that's no guarantee at all.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear that, hopefully it will stay minor
ReplyDeleteThankfully and mercifully haven't experienced floaters till date. Don't know how long I have to wait before one of these appears in my vision.
ReplyDeleteThis post takes photo-blogging to a new level, Kay! :)
ReplyDeleteAll I can say (speaking from experience) is, you'll get used to the little black spots and just try not to think and worry about it too much.
This is s a bit scary. My husband has had flashing lights in his vision at night. sigh.
ReplyDelete